Crypto market loses $486M in July, most since 2022: Report

The cryptocurrency market is having its worst month of 2023, according to a report from Web3 outlet De.Fi shared with Cointelegraph.

Losses for July totaled $486 million, more than six times the total from 2022:

*Cryptocurrency losses comparing July 2022 and July 2023. Source: De.Fi*

The report comes on the heels of several high-profile hacks and exploits in the month of July and a flurry of legislative activity surrounding the nature of cryptocurrency and digital assets.

With a current reported recovery total of only $6.15 million, nearly 99% of all cryptocurrency and digital assets stolen in the month of July remain unrecovered.

According to a document shared with Cointelegraph, the researchers at De.Fi believe not enough is being done to recover lost funds quickly:

“Regrettably, the recovery efforts in July 2023 were woefully inadequate, with only $6,796,915 recouped from the vast $486.35 million lost.”

The researchers went on to describe the cryptocurrency sector’s ability to recover stolen or lost funds as “a pivotal element in alleviating the impact of these unfortunate incidents.”

Per the report, the vast majority of losses occurred on the Ethereum network, with $447 million lost across 36 cases — including the Multichain hack, which involved $231 million, and the Alphapo exploit, which cost around $100 million.

*Losses by chain in July 2023. Source: De.Fi*

The next-closest network was Base, which saw $23 million lost in a single case. Binance took third with a reported loss of nearly $11 million over 18 cases.

“Access control issues” accounted for the majority of the funds lost in July with $364 million. Rugpulls, with over 38 reported cases, resulted in losses in the amount of about $36 million, and reentrancy attacks led to about $78 million in losses.

The De.Fi team’s report did contain one bright note, however: There were no reports of exit scams for the month of July.